


Skiing in Skyhold

by Slothquisitor



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Skiing, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 19:39:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5552705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slothquisitor/pseuds/Slothquisitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some incredibly cheesy fluff dealing with skiing and snow in Skyhold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skiing in Skyhold

The snow fell silently outside the window, cumps of snowflakes careening through the air towards the ground. The entirety of Skyhold seemed to be abuzz with the energy that the snow brought with it. Everyone else seemed to be elated about the weather, but not Mara. She glared out her balcony doors, the weather was just mocking her at this point.   
Three days straight and this weather hadn’t let up. Mara was sure she hadn’t been properly warm since the snow had started falling. She’d tried to continue life as usual despite the weather, but every time she had to venture outside she found herself slipping and sliding around precariously. So she’d been avoiding the outside world, especially Varric who managed to always be around when she made a fool of herself.   
Despite liking her quarters Mara was getting restless. The fire blazed in front of her, heat rolling over her in waves that never felt quite warm enough. She sat on the floor in front of the hearth, her face resting on her hand as she tried to ignore the white fluff outside her window. She missed being outside, but she wasn’t planning on going out again until it melted, and judging by current weather conditions, it wouldn’t be for at least a week.   
She sighed heavily and tried to return to work when she heard a knock on her door and then the unmistakeable footfalls of Cullen making his way up her stairs, “Still working?”   
She rolled her eyes, “Not productively.” Mara was surprised to see him out of his armor, and instead dressed as if he was planning on braving the weather outside, he was in a large brown coat, scarf wrapped around his neck and gloves in hand.   
“You’ve been cooped up in here for the last two days,” he said.   
“The weather is mocking me,” Mara whined.   
“Well, I have a bit of a suggestion,” Cullen smiled as he pulled her up from the floor.   
Mara eyed him suspiciously, “If it involves going outside, the answer is no.”  
He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “Humor me, please.”  
“The last time I listened to you I wound up in a snowball fight against Bull, and I still have the bruises to show for it,” Mara shook her head.   
Cullen laughed then, and she studied him. The snow seemed to have awoken something within him, his eyes were brighter and happiness seemed to ooze out of everything he did, he was even laughing more. After what they’d endured the last few months, she was relieved to see him acting so carefree. She reluctantly resigned herself to agree, she couldn’t say no to him when he looked this excited.  
“Alright, but if I wind up with my coat full of snow, you’re going to have to be the one to warm me up,” she pressed her finger to his chest.   
“You’ve got a deal, Inquisitor,” and he helped her into her coat.   
***  
“What are these things? Some sort of Ferelden torture device?” she stared at the wooden slabs sitting atop the soft snow. She was supposed to attach them to her feet, but she wasn’t planning on complying.   
“They’re skis,” Cullen nudged her towards them.   
The only good news was that the snow had ceased falling for the moment, and while the gray clouds above them still looked threatening, the air was still.   
“Here.”  
She looked at the thin sticks he had just pressed into her hands and then to the skis. She was completely and utterly baffled.  
Cullen ran a gloved hand through his hair eyes wrinkling as he watched her, “Like this.” He slipped onto the skis easily, using his poles to position himself and the leather straps to attach the skis to his boot.   
Mara did her best to copy the movements, but Cullen ended up attaching her boots to the skis anyways. She felt like a child while he knelt in the snow setting everything up for her. There were very few people in the courtyard, but Mara felt self conscious all the same. Once they were both ready Cullen looked at her with a grin on his face, “Watch me.”  
With his right foot forward he pushed off, sliding easily away from her, his foot coming off the back of the ski as he propelled himself forward. He turned back towards her smoothly. He made the whole thing look as easy as walking.   
“Now you try!” He called.   
Painstakingly aware of the eyes on her in the courtyard, she tried to mimic his movements, and immediately felt excited as she found herself moving towards him.   
“I’m doing it!” she laughed. It didn’t take long before she realized there was a problem. She was heading straight towards Cullen and had no idea how to stop these things.   
“Help!” as she tried to point the skis in another direction, but they seemed to have a mind of their own on the gentle incline, she tried to remember how he’d stopped. Throwing the back ends of his skis out, but she was having a hard enough time maintaining her balance to figure that out.   
She ran headlong into him with an UMPH, his arms had immediately caught her and managed to keep them upright. She looked up at him sheepishly, “Sorry.”  
“You weren’t going that fast,” he brushed the hair from her eyes.   
“Says you!” she she pushed away from him, and immediately ended up in the snow. And try as she might, there was no getting up.   
“Do you need some help?” his voice sounded far too amused..   
“No,” she said tersely as she tried to get the skis under her to no avail. She was incredibly frustrated as she kept trying to angle herself to get the skis back where they should be, but all she managed to do was slide around on the ground helplessly.   
It wasn’t long until she felt his hands under her arms, pulling her up, “I said I was fine!”  
“Clearly,” he set her back on her feet.   
“I hate the snow.”  
“I know,” he smiled, “Do you want to try again?”  
“Perhaps you could teach me how to stop first?” she said, her pride making it impossible for her to give up just yet.   
She watched his face light up as he explained to her the easiest way to stop, it involved creating a triangle with your skis, and she thought that sounded pretty easy. So she started again, heading towards the smithy. Then she tried angling her skis the way Cullen had showed her, and it sort of worked until the skis crossed.   
Shit, she thought as she tried to lift her left leg up to untangle the skis. Instead, her left ski point ran headlong into the snow and sent Mara toppling over it. Even with a face full of snow she could hear his laughter. Despite how soft snow looked, it didn’t actually feel very good when you face planted into it.   
Cullen was immediately at her side, pulling her back up, “You okay?” He was trying to be very serious, but the side of his mouth kept twitching.   
“I’m fine,” she said as she brushed the snow off of her front and resisted the urge to punch him in the face.   
It took a few more tries and some falls in the snow before she could move effortlessly around the courtyard. She was sure her form was terrible, but she could move and stop and it wasn’t so bad when you weren’t falling all the time.   
“Where did you learn to do this?”  
“My parents taught me and my siblings. It probably was a good way to wear us out instead of keeping us cooped up inside when the weather was like this,” he smiled as they fell into rhythm beside each other.   
“And now you’re teaching me?”  
“You and snow really needed to make up,” he grinned at her and her heart melted.


End file.
